“And after the bite, because the original strain has been introduced, the subject’s blood appears the same as one of the dead.” Joy breaks over his face, and he takes a half a step toward the cage. “How did I miss that? An effective serum will nullify the hunting instinct once deployed.” Gideon turns to his notebook and begins muttering as he scribbles.
“What was that, Jane?” Katherine asks me, voice low.
“A distraction,” I say.
“Was any of that true?”
I shrug. “No clue. I mean, everything I told him was true, but I ain’t a scientist. I don’t know if time or something else is why Gideon’s serum doesn’t work. I was just hoping to get a hand on him so I could throttle him.”
“We need a new plan,” she whispers. I nod.
“Also,” Gideon calls from where he stands, drawing my attention once more, “I never got to tell you this because Callie tried to kill me, but I discovered why Maeve and her girls turned along with all the other folks in Nicodemus. A problem with the potency.” He takes off his spectacles and rubs his face, and it takes me a long moment to realize he’s talking about the Duchess. “I truly am sorry about that one.”
The memory catches me like a right hook and leaves me reeling. For a moment I’m back in Nicodemus, harvesting the Duchess and her girls, and then tiny Thomas. I’m whole and horrified, but my terror of that moment is nothing compared to the things I’ve seen in the meantime. I’ve been across the depth and breadth of horrors on this continent and seen just about every misery folks can inflict on one another firsthand. And perpetrated a few horrors myself.
Maybe that’s why Gideon’s sorrow feels genuine. While he has the screaming victims in spades, he is just as rational and unfailingly polite as he was when we first met him. He truly believes that he is fighting the good fight, that all of this is for a very good reason. And that is somehow more disturbing than any alternative.
Gideon Carr ain’t insane. The man is exactly what Katherine is afraid I’ve become, driven and blinded by a singular goal, and for the first time I understand her fears.
“I don’t get you, Gideon Carr. You helped us in Summerland, and you tried to help me in Nicodemus even if you were a bit wrongheaded about it. Was any of that real? How does a body get so twisted up that you abandon your humanity?”
Gideon gives me a wistful smile and my heart flip-flops a bit. He really is a beautiful boy. But he is so utterly and completely without a single shred of empathy that he’s more a shell of a human being than a real person.
“I don’t know, Jane. You tell me.”
I open my mouth to respond, but nothing comes out. I am speechless.
Katherine squeezes my left shoulder, and I glance up to see her give me a small smile, even though her eyes are wide with barely suppressed terror. Something of my existential crisis must show on my face, because she tells me in a low voice, “You are nothing like him.”
“I think we eventually become the thing we fear the most,” Gideon says, standing, a syringe in his hand. “And I’m sorry for what I’m about to do, but I truly want to test your hypothesis.”
I’m on my feet before he finishes the sentence. My rage is a comfort, and I’m grateful for its return. I wasn’t sure what to do with the feeling of indecision and despair that had begun to creep in, but I know exactly what to do with my anger.
“You even try it and I’ll—” My threat dies on my lips as pain shoots through my body. Every inch of me tingles and sizzles, and I crash to the bottom of the cage. Next to me Katherine has done the same thing, completely felled by whatever just happened. She groans, and as we writhe on the floor Gideon opens the cage door.
Carefully, he kneels down next to Katherine, lifts her arm, and pushes up her sleeve. He pulls a syringe from somewhere within his coat and jabs it into her skin, pushing the plunger and emptying the needle of the dark liquid within. He then rises and closes the door before we’re able to gather our wits.
“I truly am sorry. I will have someone bring you some food and water. Just focus on your breathing, and the pain from the electric shock will fade.” He pauses before saying, “And thank you, Jane. You may have just provided the crucial bit of information I needed. I knew I was right about you.”
I stare up at the top of the cage, tears of rage leaking from the corners of my eyes.
No more.
When I get out of this cage, I am going to skin Gideon Carr alive, and nothing is going to stop me.
I am afraid the dream of California is ended. The dead have taken Sacramento and move en masse to San Francisco. They converge on the wall, their moans echoing day and night. I am the last one left here in the compound; everyone else has fled, taking to the sea. The poor scrabble at our doors demanding assistance that we cannot give. Will my wall hold? I have no idea. But I will not be here to witness the outcome.
—Henry Forsyth, Assistant to Mr. Thomas Edison, 1882
—KATHERINE—
Chapter 46
Notes on Scientific Discovery
I am on fire.
Every inch of my body is aflame, and there is a particular ache in my neck. I want to sit up, but that would require moving, and I am perfectly content to just stare at the top of the cage for a moment and listen to the growls and moans of the undead in the next room while the flames under my skin abate.
After a long while, when I feel a bit more myself, I sit up. Gideon Carr is gone, and Jane lies on her back crying angry tears. Her fist is clenched and there is murder in her eyes. I clear my throat.
“Well, I daresay I am not dead, so it could be worse.”
Jane does not respond, so I continue talking.
“I suppose he means to keep me here for a month and then throw me to the dead. A bit biblical, is it not? Lions seem more humane than the dead. I never thought I could sacrifice myself like those saints, gouging out my eyes for love of my beliefs. But now, I think perhaps they did not really have much of a choice.”
Jane sits up. “I’m sorry.”
I blink. “What?”
“I’m sorry. I took you for granted. Now, then, always. I threw away Callie in my quest to find Gideon and then I turned around and did that same thing to you. Even after that moment in Sacramento, I still was willing to drag you along on this madness.”
I smile sadly. “That is not who you are, Jane.”
“I know. And I’m sorry I have never been a very good friend.” She takes a deep breath and scrubs her sleeve across her face. “Thank you for never giving up on me.”
A lump wells up in my throat, and I nod. “Never. I will never give up on you. “
She does not say anything, just looks out at the lab. A parade of emotions marches across her features, and I do not press her. The important thing is that she is letting herself feel something once again.
Especially since I feel something unnatural within myself.
Whatever Gideon injected me with has left me feeling sore and hollowed out, and I doubt that was the desired effect. My vision goes blurry, and I find myself blinking to keep myself in the moment. I want to lie down and just be, but Jane is plotting, and I must be ready.
“I’m certain some of those concoctions have to be explosive,” she says, changing the subject. “Of course, I can’t tell one thing from another. Maybe there’s something in the man’s notebook that will help.”